The Seven Twenty Three From Quantico
by Aggie Escott
Summary: Aaron and Spencer are going on a train journey. Whump/slash/fluff etc! Please read and review. Love you all
1. 723

**The Seven Twenty Three From Quantico**

Chapter 1

7.23

_**Bob Geldof wrote**__, "I'm on a train now, I'm moving through yellow fields of rape, there's so much beauty, I wish that I believed enough to pray. Wrap me in your arms and keep me warm tonight."_

Spencer propped himself up on his elbow.

"Honestly, I don't mind if you change your mind!"

Aaron reflected his posture perfectly, his face level with Spencer's.

"Look, I said I would come. I might hate it, but how will I ever know if I don't try?" He kissed the end of Spencer's nose. "I might even love it."

Spencer smiled his broad happy toothy smile and collapsed onto his back.

"You'll meet all my strange friends!"

Aaron gave an exaggerated groan. "That's what I'm afraid of!"

Spencer giggled, and grabbed Aaron, pulling him close.

"Just for that I'm going to kiss you until you scream for mercy!"

Aaron yelped playfully. "Oh no! I can't stand it!" He lay on his back, arms out to his side. "Ok! I surrender!"

"Oh good, 'cos I'm really tired." Spencer fell back onto the bed in mock exhaustion. He sighed happily, and snuggled up close to Aaron, curling his body to fit the contours of Aaron's. He rested his head on Aaron's shoulder and closed his eyes. Aaron turned to face him, and wrapped both his arms around him and drew him close.

This was one of his favorite times, just before he went to sleep, feeling Spencer slowly relax and fall asleep on him. Holding him in his arms, he took the time to meditate on his relationship with Spence. Absently he stroked his hair and ran his fingers along his spine, counting the bumps, thinking of how lonely he would be without him.

He gained so much, took so much. Yet he felt he gave nothing back. he would give everything he had to Spencer. But Spence asked for nothing.

Aaron pressed his face into Spencer's hair.

He pulled the cover up over Spence, protectively embracing him, and gradually his meditations changed to dreams

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Spence woke up in the morning before Aaron, which was unusual. He wanted to jump out of bed, but instead, he slid out from under Aaron's arm without waking him. Aaron moaned softly and turned towards the space that Spencer left, but he didn't wake up. Spence crept out of the room and skipped downstairs to make coffee and toast. He smiled as he got the breakfast ready. Aaron never got breakfast in bed, because he always woke up first.

But not today. Spencer was too excited.

He had had several e-mails from friends he would see today. He had missed the last two Comic-Cons because he was in hospital. This one was going to be special though. Aaron was coming with him. He couldn't wait to show him off to his friends!

He suddenly realised he was singing as he bounced around the kitchen in his bare feet. He lowered his voice. He really didn't want Aaron to wake up before he got back upstairs.

He got the tray ready, and stood back to admire his work. There was something missing.

He unlocked the back door and picked a daisy off the terrace. He put it in a glass on the tray, and picked it up.

Aaron was stirring when he got back upstairs. He rubbed his eyes, and smiled.

"Ooo! Breakfast in bed – decadent!!"

"Everything's decadent with you, Babe!"

Spencer sat on the bed next to Aaron, and started to fidget.

"You excited or something?" grinned Aaron, sticking the daisy into Spencer's hair.

"We've got an hour 'til the train leaves." said Spence. "I'll go shower while you finish up here." He put his face close to Aaron's. "I love traveling by train! That in itself is a treat!"

Spencer skipped out of the bedroom, down the hall to the bathroom and switch on the shower and started to sing.

_Pardon me bo-o-oy. Is that the Chattanooga ChooChoo_……..

Aaron cringed and ate his toast.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_Dinner in the diner. Nothing could be finer_……

A poke in the ribs from Aaron, and Spencer stopped singing. He looked at Aaron, his little face all hurt. Aaron cracked up, and kissed his nose.

"Ahh I do love you so very much, Spencey!"

"And here's the train!" Spencer grabbed his empty case on wheels, which he hoped to fill with comics before the weekend was out.

Aaron hadn't said anything about it.

He thought lots of things, but didn't actually say them.

This was Spencer's domain. He was an observer.

He smiled, helping Spence onto the train with his empty bag.

They found a seat with a table, and Aaron put the bags on the rack.

Aaron leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. Spencer sat right on the edge of his seat and watched out of the window. Aaron sat forward again.

He wanted to share everything, even looking out of the window.

Spence brought out the child in him. A side of him he kept hidden from most people, even Haley.

Aaron leaned on him, brushing his face in Spence's hair. It looked auburn in the early morning sun, and Aaron felt a rush of energy as he wondered at how much he had been blessed.

"What are you watching, Spence?"

"Oh, I don't know really. I just like looking at the people." He paused, then pointed out a family in their garden. "Look at them, Aaron. Their house is tatty, and their car is a wreck, but see how happy they are."

Aaron watched the family playing until they were out of sight.

People watching. He often did it himself, profiling people he saw in bars and on the streets.

Aaron took some money out of his pocket.

"I'll go and get us some coffee."

"Ah great, Babe. I was just thinking that." Spencer tilted his head to the side

"Ok." Aaron bent down and kissed Spence. Spence put his arms on Aaron's shoulders and kissed him back.

"Don't be long, Babe." He touched the tip of his nose and watched him go through the door into the next carriage.

"Aaron! Get me a Danish if they've got any!"

Spencer called him, but he was already gone into the next carriage.

Spencer got up and followed him through the doors. Aaron was at the other end of the carriage.

"Aaron………."

Aaron turned at the sound of Spencer's voice. He smiled and………

It was at that moment that the woman in the middle of the carriage blew herself up.

Spencer watched as the bomb she carried tore her apart, and the air was filled with glass and twisted metal and pieces of the people who were sitting in the carriage.

and he felt his feet leave the floor and he was thrown back through the doors and he felt burning and shards of glass and metal embedded themselves in his face and chest

and blood ran down his legs and his hair was on fire

and what happened?

and where was Aaron?

and it hurt so much and Spencer hit the bulkhead and a piece of someone hit it too

and Spencer screamed and passed out.

and everything was silent...


	2. Awareness

**A/N Sorry about the formatting. I'm on a friend's computer, and I'm having to use notepad, 'cos she's not got word. Please bare with me. Thanks**

Chapter 2 

Awareness

Spencer could hear crying as he regained consciousness. He couldn't tell if it was his own body crying, or someone else close by.  
_Aaron? Could it be Aaron?  
_He lay still for a moment remembering what had happened. He saw again the woman in the next carriage. He saw the smile on her lips as she blew herself into oblivion.  
It wasn't a sad smile, more one of accomplishment.  
Spencer pushed the image away from his mind. Aaron!  
He had been in the carriage. He had called to him.  
He had turned round.  
Spencer had called him and he had turned around!  
He had to find him.  
The crying that he could hear was coming from his own mouth, but there were other sounds of distress in the carriage; they sounded as if he was under water, muffled, distant.  
He wondered if his ears were damaged by the blast.  
"C-can anyone hear me?" Spencer called out. He coughed as smoke drifted silently around him.  
"T-tell me where y-you are, I will c-come and f-find you!" Just continued muffled sounds of people in pain.  
He tried to sit up, whimpering as the lacerations opened and moved when he moved. He was partially leaning against the bulkhead of the carriage. His hands hurt as he leaned on them to push himself up. He glanced down at them.  
The palms of both hands were stuck with shards of glass. He must have put his hands up to his face as protection when the bomb exploded.  
Gritting his teeth, he pulled the glass out of his hands. His eyes watered and a sob escaped his lips as he removed the first shard.  
_I'm coming to find you, Aaron. I will find you!  
_The pieces of glass and metal that were sticking out were removed. He tore a piece of his shirt off, and wrapped a piece around both hands. Carefully he checked his face. Something was embedded in his forehead. He felt the blood in his eyes but he felt no pain from it.  
He knew that the pain would come later.  
He pulled at it. It was embedded in the bone, and didn't want to come out.

Now there was pain.  
He cried out and tears fell from his eyes, mixing with the blood, forming pink and scarlet streams on his cheeks.  
He leaned forward and moaned in agony. New blood ran down his face. He felt it drip off his nose and chin.  
He ran his shaking hands down his chest. There were lacerations, ripped right through his clothes. None sticking out, although he knew it would be too dangerous to remove them had there been any.  
Below the waist he had been protected by the carriage seat in front of him.

His glasses were in his lap. They had protected his eyes. Trembling with shock, he put them on. One of the lenses were broken, but now he could see better.  
He looked around at the other passengers. Most were not so lucky.  
He had seen bloody murder scenes, and he had been involved in heart rending cases, he had been raped and tortured┘.  
But this was the worse he had ever seen. He saw body parts, pieces of what had once been living men and women┘ Others lying still and broken as if dropped there by an uncaring child.  
He wiped the blood from his eyes. He needed to see if he could help these people, if there was anyone alive.  
He turned onto his hands and knees and crawled painfully to the closest passenger. It was a woman of about his own age. Her eyes looked into his face. She knew she was dying He took her hand.  
"My name is Spencer." he said to her. Her hand trembled. "Hold on, the emergency services will be here soon" Her hand became still and slipped from his. Spencer folded her hands across her chest. She hadn't stood a chance.  
He looked round again.  
He crawled to the next victim, and the next, and the next. He was the only one alive in the carriage.  
_Now Aaron, I am on my way to you. I will find you. I love you_...  
...

Spencer had called to him. He had turned and smiled at him.  
Then nothing.  
As awareness returned to him, he couldn't be sure where he ended and the rest of the world began. His brain refused to register his senses. Only pain and agony.

_It hurts, it hurts, Spence, Sweets, oh god it hurts!  
_Pain was like a blanket, false protection, wrapping itself around him, pretending to be a friend.  
_'This is how it is, Aaron Hotchner. Your comfort, your proof of life, is pain.'_

His chest hurt, breathing was all wrong. He had to plan and carry out each juddering breath. And each breath felt as if his insides were being torn inside out.  
He coughed and choked blood. It ran down either side of his face.  
_Oh god that hurt so much.  
_He tried to call out, but he just threw up more blood. It seemed to pool in his mouth, run from his nose.  
His bleeding lungs groped for air in the dark stillness. He forced air out.  
He forced air in Please help me! I am still alive! Help me...please help!  
_Was anyone else alive? Spencer! Was Spencey alive?  
Sweetheart...I want to help you!  
_There was no light to see, no sounds. He could smell burning and taste smoke and feel pain.  
His awareness of his own body was confused. He thought he was lying on his back, but he couldn't be certain. He tried to move each part of his body in turn.  
First he turned his head. He could move, but it felt like a scream would feel, if a scream was a physical thing.

Hands - yes, his hands could move. He twitched his fingers. He could raise his arms a little, there was something in the way.

Something was across his chest, pinning him down. Heavy ...crushing...ripping...

He lifted his head and looked down his body.  
Smoke filled the air and he had difficulty focusing.  
But he could see.  
A piece of wreckage was protruding from his chest, pinning him to the floor.

It glistened darkly with clots of blood, the point towards the sky, dripping life blood back onto his body.  
_Breathe, Aaron...don't forget to breathe._...  
He cried out in pain as he forced his lungs to work.  
He couldn't feel his right leg, no feeling, nothing. His left leg was under something. Wreckage pinning his legs down.  
_Spencer! Oh god, Spence! You were just at the end of the carriage! I smiled at you, you smiled back, and then...then?..._  
Aaron didn't know what happened then.  
He knew he was in pain.  
He knew Spencer was out there somewhere,  
He knew he couldn't get up and search for him.  
He couldn't hear anyone, no sounds of crying, nothing.  
Again he tried to call out, to call for help. This time he managed a softwhimper,

_Please, someone help us...someone...help..._


	3. Searching

Chapter 3 

Searching

Spencer crawled carefully to the end of the carriage. The fastest way to Aaron was to go through the next carriage.

He climbed over the wreckage, to the place where he had been standing when the bomb went off. The next carriage was a tangle of metal and

glass. He couldn't possibly get through that way.

The only way was to get outside.

_I'm coming to find you, Aaron. I'm coming!  
_

Carefully clambering over wreckage to the outside, he realised for the first time that the train was in a tunnel. When the emergency lights went

out, the carriages would be in pitch darkness.

_I must find Aaron before it goes dark. I don't know if I will be able to function in here in the dark.  
But I will have to.  
Aaron will be depending on me.  
_

Outside the carriages, he couldn't see where he was going. He stretched his arms in front of him, and took very small careful steps. He felt

glass scrunch under his feet, his outstretched hand brushed against the ripped out side of the train.

He crouched down, and tried to go under the debris, but the way was blocked.

Spencer started to panic. He wanted to get to Aaron, the way was blocked.  
"Aaron! C-can you hear me?" Spencer called through the twisted chaos. "If you c-can hear me, Love, I'm trying to reach you. Please, hold on!"

* * *

Aaron heard a voice cut into his wavering consciousness. Distant, distorted by the blast damage to his ears...

_Spence? Spencey, was that you?  
_

Aaron wasn't breathing very well. He coughed up foam and blood, he thought his lung was collapsing, he wasn't getting enough air.

Each breath was bubbly, choking on the foamy blood that was in his lungs. He was pinned, unable to move. He tried to call Spence, to

reassure him, to let him know he was alive.

"I'm here, Spence, I'm here!" His voice came in a croaking gasp. The pain of forcing air through his larynx was excruciating. He tried again.

"Spencey Babe! Help me..."

He started to cry, tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, running into his hair, and diluted the blood that was trickling from his ears.

_Spence, I don't know how long I can hold on. If I die before you get here, Sweetheart, know that I love you.  
_

Aaron twisted to the right and pulled at his arm.. A pain shot along his arm and into his heart. He cried out loudly, twisting again to release it.

Something was digging into the muscle of his upper arm, tearing at his skin as he dragged his arm towards his body. He was crying in terrible

pain as he felt the rip along the length of his arm.

His arm was free. He held it up and felt the blood run onto his face from the deep tear in his skin.

He moved his arm down and watched the blood pool on his chest in the flickering emergency light.

_I'm not going to make it, Spence..._

He dipped his finger in the blood and shakily wrote on the side of the bulkhead.

_**'Darling Spence, I love you so much,' **_

He dipped his finger in the blood again. _I need you to know this, Babe.  
_

**_'I am sorry I didn't make it. I will love you always. Please Sweetheart, be happy. I don't want to leave you...' _**

His arm fell back by his side in exhaustion. His tears washed his face as he said goodbye to Spencer. He spoke out loud to him...

_I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..._

* * *

Spencer caught hold of the wreckage in front of him.

Blindly he pulled himself up on to it.

He trembled in the darkness. He had no idea what was in front of him.

He was kneeling on the twisted sheet of metal, the inner surface of the train carriage. He felt something slippery and sticky smeared on the

surface. He felt bile rise in his throat as his mind told him what he was crawling through. He tried to control his stomach, but he couldn't and

he threw up. His eyes watered as his stomach emptied.

He felt the surface ahead of him, coughing and gagging on the horrible metallic smell of blood and ripped apart bodies.

He threw up again, and the tears fell unchecked.

He felt the surface sloping down ahead of him. Slowly he inched his way forward, trying to grip the slippery surface with his finger tips.

He slipped forwards a few feet, his hands slipped over the edge. For a second, he slowed his fall, but there was nothing to hang on to.

Head first, he slid over the edge, and hit the glass strewn ground.

The glass embedded in his forehead snapped off, tearing a gash in his skin at his hair line. He cried out, trying to protect his face with his

hands. He rolled onto his back, and lay still. The blood from the new rip in his skin running backwards into his hair,

He breathed slowly, regaining control.

He needed to find Aaron. He needed to stay in control otherwise he would fall apart, and Aaron needed him to be in control.

In his mind, Aaron was alive, he would be saved, they would be together.

Lying there, he couldn't keep up the optimism any more.

The chance of Aaron having survived the bombing was remote.

His mind flashed forward to living alone in their house, sleeping alone, never feeling his embrace again, never feeling his passionate kisses,

never hear him saying his name.

He took off his glasses, and pressed his hands into his eyes.

_Aaron, don't go, please, don't go...  
_

He lay there among the wreck of the carriage, crying with shock and fear and a sense of terrible loss.

And why? Why had this happened? What did the woman have against him?

He had to keep going.

He needed to get to Aaron, hold his hand, be with him until the rescue workers arrived, or until...until...

He forced himself painfully onto his feet.

_I won't give up on you, my love. I'll find you.  
_

With his hands stretched out in front of him again, he took a faltering step forwards.

The total darkness was starting to frighten him. Not being able to see his hand in front of his face, not knowing what was ahead, not knowing

if Aaron was alive.

Under normal circumstances, he'd learned to cope with his nyctophobia, but these circumstances were not normal. He shook with a fear that

seemed to soak into him from the surrounding darkness, creep into his pores, and petrify him.

Another step And another.

_I will get us through this, I promise..._

He stood still and took control of his breathing again. He was feeling light headed, hyperventilating.

He couldn't afford to fall apart.

He needed to keep going.

He took another tentative step.

* * *

Aaron didn't breathe. It hurt too much.

The piece of wreckage that impaled him through the chest pulled his insides every time he took air into his lungs.

Was it worth it?

Was it worth putting himself through this agony?

In his mind, he watched images of Spencer...

Running in the rain.

Laughing...playing on the beach.

Eating ice cream in the sea side cafe.

Shyly slipping into bed with him that first time.

He felt his warmth, breathed in his scent, touched his soft hair...

He needed to survive, he couldn't leave him.

In the flickering light he looked at the last message he'd written.

He took a long shuddering breath, and cried out in agony.


	4. Reaching Out

Chapter 4

_'Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain' - Anon_

Reaching Out

Spencer held his hands out, feeling his way along the outside edge of the carriage.

The inky blackness filled the space around Spence, chilling him, threatening to suffocate him, pushing him back, trying to stop his progress.

He couldn't stop. He had to carry on.

Spencer felt glass crush under his feet as he moved carefully on towards Aaron. One hand outstretched, his left hand feeling along the side of

the carriage, he took small tentative steps.

The way ahead was blocked again. Pressing himself against the side of the tunnel, he tried to edge around the wreckage, but the metal was

embedded into the wall.

He was going to have to climb over it again.

Carefully he felt along the edge of the twisted metal that was blocking the way. The edge facing him was sharp as a blade, waiting to cut

anything that dared to pass over it. Spencer remover his cardigan and laid it over the edge. Carefully he climbed onto it,. This time, he turned

and crawled backwards. Again, sticky wet remains were smeared across it, where some poor soul had been sitting, planning a day, thinking

about work, visiting families, remembering a lover, to be blown away to nothing, and for nothing.

Spencer felt an overwhelming sadness at the fragility of life, and how easy it was to die.

He pulled his cardigan off the cutting edge and eased himself forward, feet first.

He felt the edge and slid off onto a tangle of plastic and glass.

He tried to stay upright, but the debris was not stable, and his foot crashed through, cutting his leg as the sharp shards of glass and metal

clawed at him.

He fell back onto the mess, taking the weight off his leg. He reached down, carefully pulling his leg back, freeing it from the blade like

fragments that were now embedded in his leg.

He moaned and shed tears as blood ran down his leg, as he freed it.

When at last his leg was free, he lay back, waiting for his body to recover.

He thought of Aaron. Was he trying to get to him, or was he trapped? Was he free already?

_Aaron, Babe, are you there? I'm going to reach you, Aaron. Hold on , love, just hold on!  
_

He saw Aaron smiling across the carriage, happy dark bright eyes.

He carefully turned onto his hands and knees, spreading his weight on the fragile mess of debris below him. Feeling the blood on his ripped

leg, he knew that if he fell through here, he would be torn to pieces.

Train wreck statistics flooded through his mind unbidden. He tried to push them away, but in the unstable conditions he found himself in, he

was at their mercy.

He made an effort to ignore their funereal predictions, and concentrate on what he needed to do.

He felt along with his left hand and continued his terrible journey.

The only thing that kept him going was the shuddering hope that the man he loved more than anything would be alive when he found him, and

the hope of a future with him, more memories to make.

He wondered if the emergency services were on the scene yet. He hadn't heard them, but he hadn't been listening for them either, and he

didn't think his hearing was back to normal yet.

Their carriage was trapped underground in a tunnel. He had no idea how far in they were, but the woman with the bomb knew how to cause

the most damage.

As he crawled onwards, he thought of reasons why she might have done it.

Accident? Maybe she was transporting the bomb and it went off by mistake?

Spencer recalled the look on her face as she triggered the device.

It was no accident. She had looked into his eyes, and saw his living spirit and did it anyway.

Why this train? Full of early morning shoppers, and families on Saturday morning trips, happy children full of life and expectations, to be

snatched away with lives hardly lived.

The epitome of evil.

He stretched out his left hand, to feel the carriage.

The corner curved away to the left. He had reached the end. He was close now to where Aaron had been standing when he last saw him.

He called out to him, "Aaron, if you can hear me, I'm almost with you. Don't give up, I will find you... "

_I will find you, Aaron_...

* * *

Aaron wanted to sleep, but was afraid to. If he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to take him, it would take him to a place he would not return 

from.

He was not ready to die.

Not alone.

He took a breath. An unwelcome sensation of air rushing into torn lungs, his chest rising against the spike that held him.

A small cry escaped his lips, and another piece of his waning strength left him.

He held his free hand in front of his eyes. He could just see the outline against the soft light filtering through from somewhere.

He thought it was daytime, but his sense of time had gone.

He thought he heard Spencer's voice, but it could have been his imagination. Spencer calling out to him was the one thing he wanted to hear

above any other sound. But he didn't trust his mind to be truthful. He wanted to call back.

"Spence...here..."

The sound was as dry leaves rustling in the autumn breeze, and the air felt like sand in his dry throat.

Again he called, but the sound barely travelled past his lips.

He thought he was hallucinating. He had lost a lot of blood, he badly needed water.

He moved his free arm, just to prove to himself that he was alive. He felt vibrations in the wreckage that was pinning him down. His mind

playing wicked tricks again.

He ignored it.

He forced another agonising breath. He held the spike, trying to restrict its movement through his body, but the hurt was too much. He cried

with fear and pain, tears flowed again.

Aaron struggled to keep on holding on to consciousness, but pain and dehydration was too much.

_Please...I need to live...  
_

He fought to keep his eyes open, but he knew it would be soon, and all pain and distress would be gone.

As he hovered between life and death, he felt something...

* * *

Spencer pushed his way through loose wreckage that was blocking the way into the next carriage. This was where Aaron had been standing 

when he saw him last.

He carefully pushed away scorched plastic cladding, his hand touching remains of life blood where another human being had been forcibly

smashed out of this life and into another.

_Aaron? Oh no, not Aaron..._

Guilt tore at him as the hope that someone else, and not Aaron, had ended their life here.

He called again.

"Aaron, are you here? P-please answer me if you c-can!"

He stood still and concentrated on listening. Anything to indicate where he was.

"P-please, if you are there, c-call out to me!"

The reply was so soft and low, he could have missed it.

"Spence...here..."

Aaron!

Spencer felt tears of joy and fear flow together down his cheeks. He was close now.

He got down onto his hands and knees, and swept the space ahead with his hands, searching, listening...

* * *

...touching him. 

A voice. A real voice.

Hands touching his face. Soft loving hand, not the greedy snatching hands of death.

"Aaron, I'm here, love. Im here!"


	5. Protection

Chapter 5

Protection

Aaron forced his eyes open.

"Spencer?……" Aaron coughed a dry rasping sound that rattled in his chest. The wicked barb that held Aaron like a butterfly on a lepidopterists mat ripped further into his chest. Blood and foam escaped from his lips.

"I've found you, Aaron, I'm here."

Aaron raised his free arm towards Spencer, trying to touch him. Spence caught hold of his hand, and touched it to his face. Aaron's hand twitched and trembled at the touch, joyful recognition spreading through him like a life giving elixir.

"Spence….oh god, Spence….." Aaron's voice was as soft and gentle as waves washing the shore, and as beautiful. Spencer felt tears flow for him, running onto Aaron's hand.

"Don't speak, Darling. I am going to try to free you."

Spencer released Aaron's hand, but Aaron kept it against Spencer's skin.

In the fading emergency light, Spencer looked at Aaron. He had wreckage weighing down on him, stopping him from moving.

"Aaron, I am going to try to free your chest and arm." Spencer explained. "It may hurt, Babe, hold on."

Spencer looked at the weight on Aaron's chest. Gripping it at the edge, he lifted it clear of Aaron's body. He heard Aaron gasp in pain as blood pumped to starving areas. Aaron sobbed as his other hand painfully receive nourishment.

Spencer pulled the wreckage over to Aaron's left, until it was clear of him, then dropped it.

He knelt back down at Aaron's head, taking his other hand in his, rubbing and massaging the cold skin, He felt Aaron shaking and twitching.

"Easy, Babe, I've got you, Aaron. I'm here!"

Slowly life returned to the dying limb. Spencer felt warmth from it, an blood returned.

Aaron flexed his fingers and groaned with the pain of the movement.

He reached up both hands towards Spencer's face.

"Stay with me….don't leave me to….die alone…"

"Aaron, I won't let you die." Spencer's words came in choked sobs. "Stay with me, soon we will be out of here."

Spencer stroked his finger softly on Aaron's lips. They were dry and cracked, moistened only with his own blood. Aaron kissed the tip of Spencer's finger. Spence felt the dryness.

"Aaron, I am going to find you something to drink."  
"No, Spence, don't leave me!" Spencer felt a tremor of panic travel through Aaron, as Spence tried to pull away from him. He stroked Aaron's face. "I will be quick, my love. I will still be able to see you."

Spence moved back away from him, hearing Aaron's crying become more frightened as he broke contact. Spencer continued to talk to him, to reassure him that he wasn't going to leave him.

"Aaron, I will get you a drink, this is the buffet car, there will be something here."

He looked around the wreckage of the car. The damage was like that of the carriage he had left, was it only minutes ago? Or was it hours? Days?……

He found the counter behind which bottles of soda and coke once were displayed. On the floor in front of the stand Spencer found some that had not been broken in the blast.

He picked up some bottles, and returned to Aaron.

"I've found you something to drink." he said, opening a bottle of coke. He poured a little onto Aaron's lips, and Aaron drank it thirstily. Aaron clutched at the bottle, and held it to his lips.

"Easy, Babe. Not too quickly.!"

Aaron didn't stop until he had finished the bottle. Spence took the empty bottle off him and put it to one side.

"Aaron, I am going to try to lift the weight that's holding your legs now."

Aaron tried to hold onto Spencer, and made an effort to talk.

Spencer bent down so that he was close to him.

"Don't be frightened, Aaron. I'm going to try to release you."  
"No!" Aaron breathed. "P-please, I think I've……lost the l-leg!"

Spencer's stomach clenched.

_Oh please, not that! _

"I'll check."

Carefully he crawled down towards Aaron's legs, pressed down cruelly by several heavy layers of debris, glass and metal. Spencer ran his hands down as far as he could on Aaron's right leg. He could reach as far as his knee. The other leg was pinned at the hip. He tried to reach around, to find Aaron's feet, but it was not possible.

"I am going to lift the weight, Aaron, and hold it off your legs with something." he called back up to Aaron. "Just hold on."

There were some boxes by the counter. Quickly, Spence went back to get some. If he could lift the weight, and place a box under, it would hold the weight off Aaron.

Spencer put his hands on the edge of the bottom layer, and tried to lift.

He heard a sound of metal groaning and creaking as he moved the weight from Aaron. He heard Aaron cry out as again, parts of his body, long forgotten, returned to him in excruciating pain.

He lifted it high enough to push the box under the edge, and rested the weight on the box. It pressed down partially crushing the contents, but stopped before it touched Aaron again.

Aaron's screams of pain were breaking Spencer's heart. He crawled back up to kneel by his head. He carefully took Aaron's head on his lap and ran loving fingers through his dark hair.

"Open your eyes, Babe." Spencer said, trying to calm him. "Look at me, get strength from me."

Aaron's eyes opened. His dark ebony eyes fixed with Spencer's soft hazel ones, and they held each other's gaze. "That's it, Aaron, keep looking at me."

Spencer all the time stroking and caressing Aaron's face and hair. "You are going to be alright, Aaron."

Each shuddering breath brought tears to Aaron's eyes. Spencer could see the spike through Aaron's chest moving with each breath. He knew he was not going to be able to carry Aaron out, but he was going to have to wait for the medics.

"I am going to check on your legs, Babe. Hold on."

Spence moved back down to where he had freed Aaron from the weight across his hips. He thought his right leg was broken, but there was not too much blood.

His left leg was smashed though. It had directly taken the weight of the debris and had it had slowly crushed Aaron's leg.

Spencer was sickened. by what he saw.

_Come on, where are you? We need some help here_……

Spencer collected some more boxes to put under the wreckage that was once over Aaron's hips. As he moved it to slide the new boxes under, there was a horrible shriek of metal, and dust.

He quickly went back to speak to Aaron.

More dust and rubble began to rain down on them.

The blast had loosened the lining of the tunnel. Spencer knelt astride Aaron just above his hips. He held his body parallel to Aaron's shielding him. Wrapping his arms tenderly around Aaron's head, he braced himself.

Clouds of dust and lumps of concrete fell through the ripped open roof of the carriage. Aaron's hands held tightly onto Spencer's shirt.

Spence pressed his face against Aaron, protectively, murmuring words of encouragement, as the lining of the tunnel rained down on them.

"I love you, Aaron. Hold on, we're going to make it."

A piece of concrete fell and hit Spencer on the back of his neck with a sickening crunch.

Spence groaned as the impact knocked him senseless, and he collapsed onto Aaron, rolling to one side.

Aaron tried to turn towards him still holding onto his shirt.

"Spence, Sweetheart!"

There was no movement from him, apart from the thick dark river of blood welling up from the back of Spencer's neck, and running into his long hair, and down onto the floor……


	6. Sacrifice

Chapter 6

Sacrifice

"Spence, can you hear me?" Aaron reached across to Spencer "Please wake up!"

Spencer didn't move, his right arm rested across Aaron. He took Spencer's hand in his, feeling for a pulse. It was weak and intermittent. He rubbed Spencer's hand in his, trying to get Spence to respond.

Still no response. Aaron needed to get help for Spencer. He felt so proud of the boy, he had tried so hard the protect him, and now he had been hurt, Aaron wasn't sure he could do the same to help him.

"Spencer, please wake up!"

The wound on the back of Spencer's neck was bleeding heavily. The first thing Aaron needed to do was try to staunch the blood flow. He pulled Spencer as close as he could, and pressed down on the back of his neck. He could feel the wound, and he could feel the blood pumping. It wasn't working. He couldn't stop it.

_Please, we need help!_

_Spence please wake up!_

Aaron looked at the bloody metal thing sticking through his chest. He clasped it with his hands and bent it.

He thought, '_if I can snap this off, I might be able to move…..'_

Aaron held his breath as he pulled at the metal, bending it first one way then the other. Each time he moved it, the pain shot through his chest, sending shockwaves through his body. Tears pressed between his closed lids, as he used his remaining strength to snap off the metal that was pinning him down. He needed it to snap off close to his chest.

He rested, and took a long shuddering breath, trying to ignore the pain he felt.

He reached out to Spencer again.

"Spence, please wake up, love. We need to get out of here!"

Spencer lay still next to him, still bleeding from the wound in his neck. Aaron felt again for a pulse, but there was no change.

He grasped the stake again, bending it first one way and then the other, until it snapped off in his hands. The pain was excruciating, each twist tearing a little more at his damaged internal tissues.

Gritting his teeth, Aaron attempted to move.

The pain made him scream out as the metal began to pull back through his chest.

Just a little bit at first. Aaron pulled himself onto his side, the metal shaft twisting inside him, ripping at flesh and breaking skin. He was crying now, tears falling unchecked, sobs escaping his dry cracked lips. He gently touched Spencer on the side of his face, and pulled him close.

"Spence, I may not survive this, my love, I am so sorry, but I've got to get you out of here." Aaron wept, as he thought of leaving Spence. "Please understand, Sweetheart, that I have to do this."

He kissed Spencer on the side of his face, and gently laid him down.

Aaron pressed his hands onto the floor either side of him, and pulled himself off the shaft that was holding him.

As the barbed metal ripped out of his body, pulling with it blood and lung tissue, Aaron tried to scream, but all that escaped his lips was a terrible sigh as the agony shot pain like daggers right through him.

He fell onto his side, blood flowed onto the floor, and onto Spencer.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

..._.It was time. Aaron and Sean had heard Daddy's car pull up, and now they waited for the front door to open. Aaron couldn't hear the words, but he heard the rage. Ten years old, ten years is long enough to know when your Daddy is upset with you, and you were going to get beaten by Daddy, the one person a little boy should not be afraid of. Sean was afraid, Aaron could feel him shaking, but Aaron always took the beating for his little brother. The sound of the belt smacking into his Daddy's palm, Sean ran upstairs and. Aaron stood his ground. Aaron knew from bitter experience that if he ran, they would both get a beating. The belt caught him round the face, marking red wealds where it struck, and he cried out, "Daddy, please don't!" as Daddy pulled the school shirt off him and the belt whipped the skin on his back, Aaron cried and sobbed as Daddy hit him because he was so naughty to upset him like this, and Aaron curled up and put his hands over his head to protect his face because he didn't want the other children to know how bad he was so that Daddy had to beat him, and where was Mummy today? She wasn't helping him today, not since Daddy had hit her too, but Mummy would come and hold him after, wash where the belt had cut, and tell him that Daddy loved him really_……………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Aaron gradually pulled himself away from the dream-memory, and back to where he was lying next to Spencer on the mess of glass and metal shards, painted scarlet with blood. He put his arms around Spencer, pulled him close, the bitter memories of his Dad fading as the reality of Spencer filled his thoughts. Spencer was breathing shallow shaking breaths, the bleeding had slowed now. Aaron pressed a lock of Spencer's hair close to his face, and breathed in the scent he had grown to love.

His chest felt torn apart, but now he had to move.

His right leg hurt, but that was good, he thought, his right leg he couldn't feel at all. He pulled himself closer to Spencer, and spoke to him.

"Spence, I am going to try to get help for us." He stroked his lover's face and he hoped Spence could hear him. "When you wake _up_, I won't be here, but wait, Sweetheart, and I will send help back for you."

Aaron turned away from Spencer, praying that it wouldn't be the last time he would feel his warmth, and sense his closeness.

He got onto his knees, and pulled himself further into the carriage. Blood smeared in his wake, as Aaron left Spencer behind him.

_There has got to be someone who can help. Rescue workers, please, there has to be someone_…………

Aaron tried not to look at the torn corpses that littered the carriage, the blood and gore that he crawled through to get to the end of the carriage. His one thought was to get help for Spence before it was too late.

The hole in his chest was running blood onto the floor as he crawled forward, mixing with blood that had already pooled on the floor.

Aaron stopped, collapsing onto his front, unable to move. He concentrated on moving on, but the rip through his chest hurt too much, and his leg screamed at him to rest. He turned onto his back, and looked up at the ceiling of the carriage, blackened with smoke and soot. He put his hands against the hole in his chest. He could eel air sucking into the wound, and he knew he wouldn't have long now until his lung collapsed, and he wouldn't be able to breathe at all.

He turned back onto his front and continued, dragging his left leg.

Aaron reached the door at the end of the carriage. He now had to stand to open it.

He pulled himself onto his knees, and leaned his head on the wall. The effort made his head swim, and Aaron threw up. As his body heaved his chest muscles went into a spasm, and the injury to his chest poured gouts of blood and fluid. When finally, he stopped vomiting, paroxysms of agony caught hold of him in a claw like grip, and he cried uncontrollably.

_Spencer….I need to do this for you, please, I need the strength………_

Aaron forced himself onto his feet, and opened the door.

Hanging on to the door, he saw people in the carriage. He reached out a hand to them.

"Please, help us……please….."

Aaron's eyes glazed over, and, still holding onto the door, sank to his knees. A sigh escaped his lips as he fell slowly forward onto the floor.


	7. 3rd Man

Chapter 7

3rd Man

_Jonatan Mårtensson said, 'Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.'___

Aaron lay on the floor of the carriage trying to remember where he was and how he got there. He was feeling light headed and sick. He opened his eyes to try and understand and get his bearings. He could see the glass strewn and blood spattered floor. He was finding breathing difficult, and as each breath was becoming more difficult, the pain became more debilitating. He moved his hand to his chest and found his clothes blood soaked and sticky. One of his legs hurt and he couldn't feel the other one. He painfully turned onto his back and stared up at the smoke blackened ceiling. It looked like a train, but why would he be on a train?

Why was he alone?

He remembered being with Spencer, going to get coffee.

So what happened? And where was Spencer? Biting his lip to stop him from crying out, he pulled himself into a sitting position and leaned against the base of a seat, and looked around. The first things he saw were the bodies. People who had died where they sat. Blast damaged people.

He looked down at his own body. One of his legs was a bloody mess. He tried to reach down to touch it, but the chest pain incapacitated him. He moaned in agony and rested back on the seat.

Closing his eyes, he tried to think back to the last time he saw Spencer. He could remember Spencer touching him, and taking to him, he remembered Spencer protecting him.

He remembered Spence being hurt.

Aaron still had to get help.

He tensed his body in readiness to move on, when he felt a hand on his shoulder………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Spencer gradually began to hear voices as his senses returned to him. The back of his hair was stiff with dried blood, and suck to his face, and his head hurt. He looked round for Aaron. He should have been next to him, but when he turned, the bloody spike was there, but Aaron wasn't.

"Aaron! Where are you?"

He put his hand to the back of his neck to try and prevent movement, and got to his feet. He looked around for his glasses, and retrieved them from under the rubble. Once he could see properly, he staggered towards the other end of the carriage, where he hoped Aaron would have gone.

Using the seat ends for support, he dizzily passed through the carriage, trying to ignore the bodies as he passed them. The door to the next carriage stood open. He could see a stain that could have been blood in the doorway. He knelt down, and touched it. The blood was fresh. It had to be from Aaron.

So where the hell was he?

The blood was smeared along the floor, and there was a pool next to the first row of seats.

Aaron wasn't there. Spence thought that Aaron had been rescued, but was confused that he hadn't sent anyone back for him.

Unless he wasn't able to speak.

He carried on walking to the back of the carriage, when he heard a sound behind him.

Something was pressed into the small of his back. Spencer very slowly raised his hands.

"Empty your pockets."

Spencer brought his right hand down to his pocket. "Who are you?"

"I want your valuables, so empty your pockets now."

Spencer took his ID out and handed it back to the man behind him. It was taken out of his hand.

"Another Fed."

"I haven't got any valuables." Spencer said, stalling for time as he realised the significance of this man's words. So he had Aaron. Aaron wasn't rescued. "What are you doing?" Spencer had heard of many times that people with no criminal background would suddenly do out of character things when circumstances allowed them to.

"Take off your watch!"

Spencer made no move to remove it, but said, "Do you know where my friend is?"

The first taser shot knocked him to his knees. "Now, remove your watch."

With shaking hands, Spencer unbuckled his watch and handed it back. "Please, can you tell me where my……."

The second shot knocked him onto the floor. The hands searched his pockets and took his money and cards, then left him lying on the carriage floor.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The paramedic was arguing with the fire fighter.

"I understand what you are saying, but if there are any survivors in there, I have to help them."

"I am sorry, Mel, but the tunnel is unstable. It's not safe." He had his hand on her arm.

Mel shook him off fiercely. "Either I go in with your help and blessing, or I go in without it. Either way, I go in!"

He sighed. "I'm coming in with you, then. " He handed her a hard hat. "Put this on."

She smiled and picked up her kit, and followed him to the back door of the rear coach.

The two of them moved through the carriage, checking each victim as they went. It was too late for the, but she wasn't deterred. At least she knew she had done her best for them.

"This one's alive!"

She ran down the center of the carriage to kneel by the fire fighter's side. A young man was lying before her. His long dark auburn hair was encrusted with blood, and he had rags tied round his palms. She noticed that one of his legs was badly gashed, and there was a nasty wound on the back of his neck, and one in his hairline that still had glass in it. He was breathing fairly wall, albeit a little slowly. His pulse was erratic but strong.

She checked his arms and legs for fractures. "He's ok, would you carry him out?"

The fire fighter nodded, and picked Spencer up in his arms, and carried him back up the carriage, and out into the light. As the back door of the carriage closed, she felt something in her back.

"Don't turn around. Who are you?"  
"My name is Mel, and I am looking for survivors."

"Without turning round, leave the carriage. There are no more survivors."

Obediently, Mel walked up to the end of the carriage, and left. She went to the ambulance in which she could see the young man being worked on by her colleagues. She went into the ambulance, and sat with them. She told them what had happened, and they told her the man's condition.

"Mostly lacerations and glass cuts. All are consistent with him being in range of a bomb. He will be ok, he is dehydrated" The medic lifted the man's shirt. "But look at this!"

He showed her the four small burns, two in the small of his back, and two on his side in the kidney area.

"He's been tasered."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Aaron hadn't moved since he had been dragged from the carriage and thrown into the back of a van.

He was moaning and whimpering, tears falling, his mind slipping in and out of consciousness, unable to form a grip on reality. The pain was all encompassing, and he was confused and distressed. Opening his eyes, he could see the feet of someone sitting on a bench along the side of the van.

He tried to speak, to contact whoever was with him. He reached out his hands.

"Help me, please…"

The answer was a kick in the head.


	8. Hostage

Chapter 8

Hostage

_Theodore Roethke said, 'By daily dying I have come to be.'_

Mel stood talking to the police about what had happened to her when she had been on the train. "Whoever it was wanted me off the train." She said. "I don't think there were any more survivors in the carriage I saw."

The cop led answered her unasked question. "Probably looters." He explained. "As horrible as it sounds, we get this kind of thing whenever there is a disaster of some kind." He shook his head, as if he could hardly believe it himself. "But we'll get them, believe me. Usually they are stupid as well as vile people, and we get them trying to use a stolen credit card."

Mel thanked the cop and hurried back to her patient, who was just starting to regain consciousness.

She sat by him and took his hand.

"Hello, I'm Mel. Can you tell me your name?"

The man looked towards her. As she took in his face, saw the blood trails and the cuts, she felt a surge of………empathy? ……love? ……desire? She felt her hands shake.

"I'm S-spencer Reid. Did you f-find Aaron? He was in front of me."

"I'll go and check." She felt sure that there had been no-one else. She smiled at Spencer and went to double check.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

On the other side of town, a van was being chased by the police.

"It's definitely the van that was at the crash site. Registration has been changed, but it has the same scrape along the side. It's not showing any sign of stopping." The cop reported into his radio. They drove alongside the van and gestured that they should pull over. The driver pulled a gun and fired at the cop car. They pulled back, and sirens blaring,

The driver of the van was arguing with his fellow thief in the back of the van.

"Why you had to bring this guy along with us, I'll never know."

"Insurance!" he yelled as the van screamed round a corner. He hung onto the seat, trying not to fall onto the floor of the van

"More like a liability!" the driver answered, "Can't we get rid of him? It's a big jump from thieving from corpses to kidnapping. If he dies, it's death row."

The bloke in the back ignored him. He had plans for this man. He dragged Aaron to the back door of the van. He pulled him up onto his knees, and, holding a gun at Aaron's head, opened the van door.

When the cops in the leading car saw that they had a hostage, they slowed down, and broke off the chase.

"We have a hostage situation," he reported. "It could be one of the passengers."

They watched the van turn a corner and an unmarked car took over following the van at a discreet distance. They followed for several uneventful miles, when the van pulled off the road into a deserted farm. They could see a wooden barn, and it was into this that the van drove.

The unmarked car drove straight past without slowing, and the cop radioed in the position.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The description of the missing passenger that Reid gave the police matched that of the hostage that the UnSubs had taken. The cops were surrounding the barn. Spencer, stitched, bandaged and rehydrated, insisted on being there, against the doctor's advice. He sat in the back of a police car, twisting and untwisting his fingers, desperately wanting to do something. He had seen what a bad way Aaron was in, and was afraid for him.

How had they become separated again?

His mind went over and over the events on the train, what he could have done differently, but so much of it was a blur, his memory scrambled. Two taser shots tended to do that.

He strapped on the flak jacket that he had been given, opened the car door and went and stood by the cop who had been driving.

A negotiator was trying to set up a dialogue with the kidnappers, but they weren't responding.

"I don't think kidnapping was on their agenda." Spencer observed.

The cop turned his attention to Reid. "What do you mean?"

"Well, they are cowards, stealing from dead victims. This rarely happens, a jump from stealing to kidnapping. It's not a logical progression."

"If you say so." The cop said sceptically. "Logical progression or not, that's what ha happened."

Spencer sighed, and went to stand by the negotiator.

"Ask them if they will exchange their hostage for someone else. A straight exchange. I will take Agent Hotchner's place, so he can get medical help."

The negotiator looked at Reid in surprise, then called his boss over and explained what Reid had suggested. He was not happy about it, there were too many variables here, but at least this way, the injured agent could get the medical treatment he needed.

So an uneven dialogue was set up. The UnSubs agreed that when Reid went into the barn he would pick up their hostage and carry him outside, and leave him. He would then return to the barn, and become an exchange hostage.

That was not exactly how it was going to go though.

Spencer walked slowly to the barn door. He felt very nervous. The last time he had felt so alone and vulnerable was when he had to remove a chip from a deranged man on a rain, but that was years ago. The feelings came flooding back to him, and he started to shake. He paused in his walk to the barn and took several deep calming breaths.

_I'm on my way, Aaron. I'm getting you out of there, Babe._

The door into the barn was open just enough for him to enter. As he stepped into the gloom, his eyes were having difficulty getting used to the dim light. He cursed not having his glasses. He paused and blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

Slowly the room came into focus. The two UnSubs were either side of the door, Aaron lying on his side straight in front of Spencer.

Spencer knelt beside him, and stoked the hair lightly from his face. Aaron was breathing shallow and rasping breaths.

"It's me, Aaron, it's Spence. I'm going to carry you out of here." Spencer spoke softly to Aaron, and Aaron responded by squeezing Spencer's hand. "I am so sorry this might hurt you."

Spencer slid his hands under Aaron's legs and shoulders, and stood up. Aaron groaned in pain and Spencer felt Aaron tremble.

He could feel the UnSubs' guns trained on him.

He hoped that this was going to work. Spence was relying on the meagre profile he had formed – these guys were unsophisticated, cowardly, and not very bright. They were out of their depth in this situation.

Spencer carried Aaron out of the barn and took a small step towards the cops, who were shielding themselves from the UnSubs with their cars.

Spencer indicated the positions of the UnSubs, and someone yelled "NOW!" and Spencer threw himself to the ground, shielding Aaron with his body, and the cops opened fire at the barn.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

**A/N – I'm finishing this story now. The rest would be in ER, so as I've been there done that got the scars, didn't feel like writing it again! Plus, I've got the next fic in my head and its screaming for release!! Needless to say, Spence didn't make it to Comic-Con, and I don't think Aaron will want to risk going next year!**

**Note to Floyd – When are you going to start reviewing? I thought you'd enjoy all the violence!**

**Thank you to all my friends, who are making life that much more bearable. And to my regular reviewers who I love. 8¬)**


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